During his first four-year term, President Barack Obama’s policies compelled power producers to plan the retirement of 15 percent of the nation’s coal-fired generation capacity and killed the scope for building new capacity fired by coal.

What does a second term mean for the most important segment of the U.S. power sector?

It means regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency will get their chance to follow through on new regulations that stifle coal and give power producers fewer options to meet demand with affordable electricity.

It means an army of EPA staff will be unleashed to quickly finalize the first greenhouse gas standard for power plants, a standard that precludes the construction of new, cleaner-burning coal-fired plants and discourages investment in clean-coal technologies.

It means the Obama-run EPA will be expanding its anti-coal agenda by proposing a greenhouse gas standard that targets existing coal-fired generation. It means ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plants – a low cost, low emission and highly efficient source of power – won’t be given a role in meeting demand and maintaining reliability.